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When Journalists Are Imprisoned

By Nicholas Kristof January 28, 2012 5:36 pmJanuary 28, 2012 5:36 pm

I wondered a bit about the topic of my Sunday column. It’s in part about the way Ethiopia’s heightening repression has resulted in the imprisonment and abuse of journalists, including two Swedes who are now serving an 11-year prison sentence in awful conditions. My sense is that Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi thinks that imprisoning those Swedes will intimidate and silence the international press corps — and I want him to realize that he’s dead wrong. That’s also why I went after him by Twitter at Davos.

But I wonder: Does it seem parochial when we journalists focus on other journalists in trouble? There are so many Ethiopian villagers suffering death, disease, hunger, rape and repression of all kinds, and I highlight two Swedish journalists who happen to be in Ethiopian prisons? Is this just journalists using their public trust to look out for each other?

It’s a reasonable question, and here’s how I answer it. In countries like Ethiopia, there are no reliable institutions to look after human rights and create checks and balances. There isn’t a free election system, independent court system, opposite party structure or all the other mechanisms that keep a regime honest. So one of the few ways to provide accountability is through journalists, local and international. And when Meles or another dictator arrests these journalists or drives them into exile, the losers are all the citizens of the country. Journalists thus play a far more important role in a country like Ethiopia than in the U.S. or Europe, where we have many other institutions to provide accountability.

What are the lessons in Ethiopia? I’m not 100 percent sure. I don’t want to see foreign aid cut off, because it is saving lives. But I do think we need to be more careful that aid doesn’t buttress the regime and become a tool of repression, and I think we need to do more naming and shaming of Ethiopia. Read the column, and post your thoughts, please.

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This blog expands on Nicholas Kristof’s twice-weekly columns, sharing thoughts that shape the writing but don’t always make it into the 800-word text. It’s also the place where readers make their voices heard.